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Apple Music Passes Spotify In Paid Subscribers: Report

In February, Apple Music had 28 million paid subscribers in the U.S., while Spotify had 26 million paid subscribers in the U.S.,
marking the first time that Apple’s streaming music service passed Spotify.

The Wall Street Journal first reported the subscription figures, adding that while both services are growing, Apple Music’s
growth rate is higher that Spotify’s.

Spotify is still a much larger service than Apple Music, with nearly 100 million paid subscribers worldwide and more than 100 million active
users on its free, ad-supported tier. Apple Music does not have a free tier, but counts more than 50 million worldwide subscribers.

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Combined, Spotify and Apple Music dwarf all
other subscription competition. Pandora, which is now owned by SiriusXM, has north of 6 million paid subscribers, and nearly 70 million users on its free, ad-supported tiers. Amazon Music is said to
have “10s of millions” of users, according to the company, though it's believed to lag behind Spotify and Apple.

Spotify has opted to lean into areas where Apple Music
does not compete in an effort to grow its business. The company is building out new advertising tools and formats, including sponsorships of its signature playlists.

The
company is also committed to spend $500 million this year on podcast acquisitions. So far, the company has acquired Gimlet Media, Anchor and Parcast, with other acquisitions likely. While podcasts are
popular on Apple devices (the term is a portmanteau of “iPod and broadcast”), Apple Music has thus far focused on streaming music, music videos, and some music-related video
programming.

Streaming music now accounts for 75% of all music
revenues, according to The Recording Industry Association of America’s 2018 music industry revenue report.